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St. Paul’s Church - Concordia, the Saxons, and the LCMS

 
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roger.pape
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:11 pm    Post subject: St. Paul’s Church - Concordia, the Saxons, and the LCMS Reply with quote

One might wonder how a group of Hanoverian immigrants to the Concordia area and St. Paul’s Church in particular became affiliated with the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Much has been written about the Stephanite movement and the Saxon immigration to the St. Louis and Perry County, MO area. Walter Forster’s book Zion on the Mississippi gives a very detailed account of the Saxon immigration, the expulsion of Martin Stephan, and the leadership of C. F. W. Walther in the formation of what is now the Missouri Synod. While it was formed as a synod of “Missouri, Ohio, and Other States”, the Saxons played a leading role in its establishment. Many historians credit Walther's publication of Der Lutheraner with creation of Synod.

The Saxons arrived in the St. Louis area in February 1839 having sailed from Germany on a group of ships specifically chartered by the Stephanite group. The earliest settlers of Concordia had come to Missouri at least one year earlier. While they traveled through St. Louis and stayed there for varying lengths of time, they were not initially in contact with the Saxons. Conrad Stuenkel, for example, first arrived in St. Louis during the spring of 1838 and was in Illinois at the time the Saxons arrived. He returned to St. Louis for several months at the beginning of 1840, where he married Marie Gerberding and soon moved to the Concordia area. Checking his marriage certificate, it is noted that he and Marie were married by a George Wendelin Wall, pastor of Holy Ghost German Protestant Church in St. Louis. This church served various German groups in St. Louis, including Lutheran and Reformed members. Marie’s family probably belonged to this congregation. Marriage records of the church can be found online at http://www.stlgs.org/DBcommunityEthnicGermanHolyGhostCDEF.htm. [Note. Access is now restricted to members only.] Checking these records, one can also see that Georg “Wilhelm” Frerking, one of the original Frerking sons who came to the U.S. on the ship Burmah in 1837 was a member of the congregation. His marriage certificate indicates that he also was married by Pastor Wall.

The Concordia pioneers that stayed in St. Louis for a longer period of time eventually joined with the Saxon group. This can be determined from the records of Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown St. Louis, C. F. W. Walther’s original congregation. These include marriage records and baptismal records of the church for various Frerking family members from as early as 1840. As the rest of the Frerking family arrived in 1845, they too joined the congregation. When Immanuel, a daughter church of Trinity, was formed in 1848, some of the Frerkings moved to this congregation. Checking the records of Immanuel at http://www.slcl.org/content/immanuel-lutheran-church-index-baptisms-1848-%E2%80%93-1909-and-marriages-1848-%E2%80%93-1920, one notes that both Adolph and Georg Otto (Scharze) Frerking were married there.

When the early Concordia settlers banded together to form St. Paul’s Church at the beginning of the 1840s, they were an independent congregation without any synodical affiliation. Their decision to subsequently join the Missouri Synod was obviously influenced by the early pastors. The first pastor of St. Paul’s, Adolf G. G. Franke, was ordained by C. F. W. Walther and sent to Freedom Township by him (Frizzell, Independent Immigrants, p. 69). The Synodical Conference that formed the Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio, und andern Staaten was held Chicago in 1847, the first year of Pastor Franke’s ministry. St. Paul’s was small and in its formative years, so it was not one of the founding (“mother”) congregations. However, Pastor Franke did attend the second synodical convention held at Trinity, St. Louis in 1848. As noted in an earlier posting in the Frerking family forum, after serving St. Paul’s for four years, Pastor Franke accepted a call to First Trinity Lutheran Church, Tonawanda, NY (a suburb of Buffalo). First Trinity was one of the original “mother” congregations of the Missouri Synod. During Franke's second pastorate back in Concordia, he urged the St. Paul’s congregation to join the Missouri Synod, which it did in 1856.

Another strong influence in St. Paul’s affiliation with the Missouri Synod was that of Pastor F. Julius Biltz. He was a member of the Stephanite immigration group (at age 13) and one of the original students in the log cabin college established by the Saxons in Perry County, MO. Although St. Paul’s had already joined the Missouri Synod when he was installed in Concordia, he clearly cemented the relationship, becoming a leader in Synod, serving as president of the Western District and instrumental in the founding of St. Paul’s College in Concordia.

It should be noted that the association of St. Paul’s, Concordia, and the Saxon descendants continued for many years. A large number of the students attending St. Paul’s College were from St. Louis and Perry County.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:42 am    Post subject: Missouri Synod History Reply with quote

Those interested in church history might want to check the book Ebenezer: reviews of the work of the Missouri Synod during three quarters of a Century by William Herman Theodore Dau. It is posted online at http://books.google.com/books?id=fIgSAAAAYAAJ&dq=ebenezer+missouri+synod&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=PCfvMbrmEd&sig=dv02pe23rQHxtcAkASUkwxBsUJg&hl=en&ei=QcECS8iwLc29lAeAm5XoAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

It gives an interesting perspective from people in the Missouri Synod almost a century ago, beginning with an account of the Saxon immigration, more information about Rev. Walther, and relations between the Missouri Synod and other Lutheran synods. Histories of various Synodical institutions are also included. Concordia, MO is only mentioned briefly in connection with Rev. Biltz and St. Paul’s College.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:49 pm    Post subject: LCMS Naming Reply with quote

I have always been intrigued by the original name of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, i.e. the Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Synode von Missouri, Ohio, und andern Staaten and how it was chosen. Because of its awkwardness, it is understandable why it was eventually shortened to the Missouri Synod. But why was Ohio included in the original name and the other locations relegated to “Other States”. The following is the list of the founding congregations (ref. the April 1997 issue of The Lutheran Witness):

• First Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo (now Tonawanda), New York (E. M. Bürger)
• Saint John Lutheran Church, Bingen (now Decatur), Indiana (F. W. Husmann)
• Saint John Lutheran Church, Neuendettelsau (now Marysville), Ohio (A. Ernst)
• Saint John Lutheran Church, Nashville (now New Minden), Illinois (W. Scholz)
• Saint Lorenz, Frankenmuth, Michigan (F. A. Craemer)
• Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Mishawaka (now Bremen), Indiana (G. K. Schuster)
• Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana (W. Sihler)
• Saint Paul Lutheran Church, Femme Osage (now New Melle), Missouri (C. J. H. Fick)
• Saint Peter Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne (now North Decatur), Indiana (F. W. Husmann)
• Trinity Lutheran Church, Saint Louis, Missouri (C. F. W. Walther)
• Zion Lutheran Church, Friedheim (now Decatur), Indiana (G. H. Jäbker)
• Zion Lutheran Church, Willshire, Ohio, and, as part of a dual parish, Zion Lutheran Church , Schumm, Ohio (G. Streckfuss—note: Zion, Schumm, would eventually join the American Lutheran Church of 1960)
• The German Lutheran Church, Hassler Settlement (Peru), Illinois, and the French Lutheran Church, Saminaque (Peru), Illinois (F. W. Pöschke—note: these were considered a single congregation, now long since closed)

Articles in Dau’s book Ebenezer, cited in the previous posting, give some insight into the relationships among the various Lutheran bodies in the U.S. during the mid-1800s. Clearly, Missouri was included in the name because of the leadership of Rev. Walther and the influence of the Saxon group in St. Louis. New York was probably not considered because there was a Buffalo Synod (originally known as the “Synod of the Lutheran Church Emigrated from Prussia.”) and there were ongoing disagreements between its leaders and the Saxons. One might argue that Indiana would be a logical choice to include. It had the largest representation and well-known leaders, such as Pastor Wyneken. Is it possible that Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan were excluded from the name because, if listed alphabetically, Missouri would not be first? Otherwise, the Missouri Synod might now be known as the Indiana Synod instead.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:49 am    Post subject: More History of the Missouri Synod Reply with quote

If you've digested the Ebenezer book on the 75th anniversary History of the Missouri Synod (noted above), you might also be interested in an earlier book by Graebner entitled Half a century of sound Lutheranism in America. There is an interesting note on the copy that was digitized stating that it was "Left at the Univ. Exhibit at Chicago, 1893", i.e. at the World's Fair.

Note. While the cover page of this book indicates it was published in 1893, its contents must have been written a few years earlier. Chapter 12 of the book Lutherans in America written by Wolf and Jacobs and published in 1889 borrows heavily from Graebner's book, much of it verbatim. The Wolf and Jacobs book edited out some of Graebner's editorializing that might have been considered offensive to other Lutheran synods.
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